


Staying out of Trouble

by SleepyxAsh



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-28 19:50:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15056522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepyxAsh/pseuds/SleepyxAsh
Summary: Tobirama, Madara, Hashirama, and Izuna all share a tiny apartment at Konoha University. It's normally a very boring existence, where the only form of entertainment is getting on each other's nerves. This totally changes however, when a psychotic serial killer escapes from prison, a killer that Madara's father put away years ago. Of course, there are still other trials that every one goes through in college: passing classes, finding life-long friends, and even falling in love if you're lucky. Join Tobirama and Madara on their adventure through all of these struggles as they try and stay out of troubleThis is on hiatus while I finish it up. I promise that I haven't given it up, but I have some planning to do with it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to my new story. I'll have a chapter out at least once a week. I hope that you all enjoy reading it!

The apartment was empty aside from Tobirama and Izuna as they sat at their small table in their small living room. So, Izuna’s voice echoed as he began defeatedly complaining.

“This class is going to be the death of me!” Izuna moaned dramatically as he slammed his face into the table next to Tobirama’s arm. Part of Tobirama wondered if the other thought that knocking himself out was a good enough excuse to get out of his chemistry test the next day.

“Honestly, Uchiha,” Tobirama sighed, leaning so that he was resting his head on his raised hand as he looked down at the head of messy, dark hair, unimpressed, “it’s just a general education class, and it’s not that hard. I don’t know what you’re freaking out about.”

“It’s easy for you to say,” Izuna snapped without much energy as he pushed himself so that he was sitting back up again so that he could glare at Tobirama. There were bags underneath the other man’s eyes as he looked up at him pleadingly. “You’re a chemistry major! You’re smart and…and a _scientist!”_ The tone that Izuna used on that last word was either accusing or reverent. Tobirama didn’t know how someone could mix up those two tones together, but Izuna had that flare—the same that his brother had—that let him mix so many emotions into his words that it left Tobirama’s head spinning.

“I understand that you have no interest in science,” Tobirama replied patiently. “I can’t help that this is something you don’t have a choice in, however. We’re only two weeks into the semester. They’re just teaching you the basics. It’s fundamental that you know these things. Come on, Izuna. Protons, neutrons and electrons.”

Izuna opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get any words out of his mouth the front door slammed open with much more force than Tobirama deemed necessary. He turned and glared at the entryway in annoyance as he watched the other two tenants of the apartment walk inside. The long, straight hair of his brother, Hashirama, swung outward as he turned to look at his best friend, the perpetually grumpy Madara.

“She didn’t mean it like that!” Hashirama declared, his brown eyes glowing in determination. Tobirama let out a defeated sigh, knowing that tone. They had probably been arguing about something trivial from the time that they’d gotten out of their shared English class until they walked through the door. This argument wouldn’t be over soon, and neither of the two would have enough consideration to keep it down enough for Tobirama and Izuna to get anymore done.

“What else could she have possibly meant by it?” Madara snapped as he slammed the door shut behind him. He took a couple of steps forward and threw his bag down on the hideous couch that sat against the wall of the living room. “I hate to tell you this, Hashirama, but there’s only one way to take someone saying _Your parents probably would have suffocated you while you slept when you were a baby if they would have known how stupid you were going to be_! That hag needs to be taught a lesson. I swear, if she was a man, I would have—”

“Don’t be so mean to her!” Hashirama cried out, practically wailing at Madara as he flung his hands out, waving them up and down at his sides as he jumped around. Madara’s eyes widened as he backed up a couple of steps, clearly thrown off by the behavior. Tobirama didn’t know why. This wasn’t anything new; Hashirama’s dramatics were something that was a normal occurance and happened too often for anyone to be surprised by anymore. “You two grew up together! You should get along way better than you do!”

Well, that narrowed down the list of people that could have possibly pissed Madara off, Tobirama supposed. It must have been his and Hashirama’s cousin, Toka. She and Madara were always verbally sparring against each other; they were practically arch-rivals, but Tobirama knew that they both deeply cared for one another, even if neither of them would admit it. She also happened to be the object of Izuna’s blatant affections. It was needless to say that her interactions with those two Uchiha brothers were amusing enough to watch.

Tobirama realized something very important as he watched Madara’s mouth open up wider and wider in blatant indignation, clearly unhappy with Hashirama subtly implying that his and Toka’s rivalries were mostly his fault. If they were back from English…his eyes darted to the clock that was hovering over the doorway and saw that it was already ten minutes past four.

He sighed and pushed himself up from his chair and looked over at Izuna. With a small bit of humor, he saw that his fellow junior had a relieved expression on his face as he settled back down so that he was sprawled over the table, using his notes as pillows. He figured that the other man should have felt just a little unhappy that his tutor—his key to a passing grade on his test the following day—was leaving.

“Hashi,” Tobirama called over to his brother. He and Madara were still arguing back and forth, but Tobirama had tuned them out almost effortlessly, something that only came with the years and years of practice that he had with the two idiots.

Hashirama quickly looked way from Madara, and his face immediately contorted from the pout that he’d been sporting to a look of inquisition. “What is it?” he asked.

“I need to you stop arguing with that moron,” he said curtly. “Izuna has a chemistry test tomorrow and needs to know the basics to pass. I have to leave in less than five minutes if I’m going to make it to work on time. Is there any way that you could help him out while I’m gone?”

Hashirama opened his mouth to reply, but Madara cut him off before he could, spluttering loudly at Tobirama for his insult.

“Who are you calling a moron!?” he snarled at him, raising a hand and pointing an accusing finger at him. “You and your barbaric cousin really need to learn how to talk to people, Senju!”

“You just need to learn how to talk,” Tobirama informed him as he patted his back pockets, making sure that he had his wallet on him. He brushed past Madara and pulled his keys off his designated hook from the wall. “Honestly, Uchiha, I can’t be sure if I actually understood what you said or not with that pitch of your voice. With all of that spluttering that you’re doing, I’m not going to be the only one who thinks that you’re a blithering idiot.”

He heard angry shouting as he opened the door and walked through, shutting it behind him before the name-calling could start. He smiled to himself. Getting under Madara’s skin was one of the few highlights of his day, and he enjoyed basking in the satisfaction, but he didn’t have time to admire his handywork for the day. If he’s lucky, the other would still be sulking about his jab when he got off work.

 

The tutoring center was located in the science building. The reserved room was large, bigger than a couple of the smaller auditoriums that littered the campus liberally. There were a good number of students scattered throughout, sitting down at circular tables and staring at their chosen tutor for the afternoon. Tobirama slowly walked toward his table and noticed with a frown that the study group that he normally taught at the end of the week wasn’t there. He shrugged as he sat down.

He got paid for being there, whether he had to help someone or not. He reached into the small bag that he had brought with him and took out his chemistry text book, flipping to the chapter that his class would be starting the next day. He had some homework to do anyway, so he figured that he could go ahead and get some of that finished while he was there.

He was maybe five pages through his biochemistry text, and actually starting to get a feel for the material in the chapter when he heard a throat clearing. His eyes slowly crawled back up the book and above to come at a rest on a young, pale man. He had long, black hair, and dark, purplish rings around his nearly yellow eyes. Tobirama didn’t know if it was makeup or marks from lack of sleep.

“What can I help you with?” Tobirama inquired politely as he closed his book and placed it down on the table in front of him.

The man’s yellow eyes lowered almost shyly as he shuffled his feet self-consciously. His hands were behind his back, but Tobirama could tell that he was twisting them just by the way that his shoulders were shifting. “I…I was told that your scheduled clients didn’t show up.” His voice was so quiet that Tobirama’s ears had to strain to hear him. “I was told to come over here and get some help from you for chemistry. I have a test tomorrow and there are some things that I’m not sure that I understand.”

Tobirama couldn’t help but smile as he leaned forward so that he could rest on his elbows and looked up at the other man as he realized that this man was in the same class as Izuna. “No problem. Chemistry one-o-one, right?”

The younger nodded as he sat down across from Tobirama and began pulling books from out of his bag. “Yeah.”

“For your sake,” Tobirama said as he grabbed the other man’s notes and began flipping them over and reading what he had, “I hope that you’re smarter than my suitemate.” This man’s notes were a lot more detailed and meticulous than Izuna’s were, making Tobirama think that he either paid a lot more attention in class than Izuna, or that he really was more intelligent than the other man.

“Alright….” Tobirama trailed off uncertainly as he realized that he didn’t know the name of the man that he was supposed to be helping.

The other seemed to realize this and stuttered out an introduction. “I-I’m Orochimaru.”

“Tobirama,” he greeted. “Alright, Orochimaru. Why don’t you tell me what you’re not understanding, and we can go from there?”

 

Tobirama woke up early the next morning feeling pretty good. He’d slept soundly the night before and was ready to tackle another day. It was Friday anyway, which was always nice. The weekend was near, and it meant that he could take a small breather. Even this early on in the semester, he was already feeling the pressure of his classes.

He refused to continue thinking on it, however. Today was going to be a good day, and that would only happen if he concentrated on the good things instead of the bad. With that thought in his head, he pushed himself out of his bed and padded toward the shower.

It didn’t take him long to get ready for the day. He was finished within fifteen minutes. He had his pants on, slung low on his hips as he towel-dried his hair. He decided to forgo a shirt for the time being, at least until his hair was dried.

He walked out of the bathroom and managed a small smile as he smelled the unmistakable scent of Madara-cooked breakfast and coffee. It was heavenly, and he felt as though he was floating as he walked toward the small dining nook that was nestled in their living room. Madara was already seated at the table with a cup of coffee and a plate sitting in front of him. Tobirama saw the mirror image opposite to Madara and immediately flocked toward it.

He murmured some variation of a _thank-you_ before he dove in, practically inhaling the goods. The television was on, though the volume was turned down so that the news program allowed for a pleasant amount of background noise. He was still totally invested in his food when Madara tensed. Tobirama’s eyes casually rose at the movement as he took another bite of his omelet.

Madara’s head was turned so that he was looking directly at the television. His hand blindly reached out and grabbed the remote and turned the volume up even more. Tobirama followed his gaze and saw that a pretty woman with long hair was standing in front of Konoha’s most famous jailhouse. Her face was grim, though Tobirama distantly thought that her posture and the way that she was moving made it pretty clear that she thought more of herself than the rather horrifying story that was headlined at the bottom of the screen.

_Mass Murderer Escapes from the Highest Security Jail in the Country._

There was a mugshot to the left of the reporter, and Tobirama instantly recognized the pale skin and white hair of the woman that referred to herself as the rabbit goddess in all of the letters that she’d left behind to authorities after each murder. It was none other than Kaguya Otsutsuki.

Madara’s father, a famous inspector that came from a long line of police officers, detectives, and lawyers, was the man that put her away. Tobirama could understand his immediate interest in the subject.

After a few moments, Madara slowly turned his head away from the screen and back to his food. He blindly reached out for the remote and turned the television off, clearly not wanting to hear anymore of it. Tobirama silently wondered why the other was looking so unnerved, but he figured that Madara wouldn’t take too kind to him inquiring, so he kept the question to himself…for the time being, at the very least.

“So,” Madara said. His voice was a forced type of calm that was painfully obvious. Tobirama accepted this however and looked at the other man inquiringly. “How was work last night?”

Tobirama wanted to raise an eyebrow at the choice of subject change. If it had been a conversation with either of his other two roommates, he might have let it go as an acceptable change in topic, since polite conversation was something that he often engaged with them in. Madara, not so much. It wasn’t that they were particularly unfriendly toward one another; it was just that neither of them was very talkative on their own, especially on such useless topics. He just let it go, however. He was obviously uncomfortable, so Tobirama just went with it, not wanting an awkward morning.

“It went well,” he admitted as he picked up a piece of his omelet and brought it to his mouth. He concentrated on chewing the piece of food, wondering if he would be able to leave it at that and everything be alright. By the time he’d swallowed that portion, however, he could already feel the awkwardness starting to build up, so he decided to elaborate. “My usual set of students for the end of the week weren’t there. I thought that I was just going to have a free night, but a freshman walked up to me about halfway through my shift and asked me to tutor him. I believe that he’s in the same class as Izuna…actually, now that I think about it, I think that he’s a friend of Tsunade’s.”

“I thought that her friend was that perverted creative writing major that spends his free time asking women if they’d be willing help him get his creative juices flowing by stripping,” Madara replied, raising an eyebrow as he finished off the last of his food from his plate.

“Yes,” Tobirama replied. “That is one of her friends. His name is Jiraiya.” His lips twitched at the thought of the younger man with white hair, much like his own, and dark eyes. He was loud and abrasive but a good person. At the very least, he was amusing enough to be around. His crush on Tsunade was painfully obvious, even if his younger cousin didn’t think so. She was always smacking him for flirtatious comments, thinking that he was just being a perv.

“However, that isn’t the one that came in,” Tobirama continued, “This one was named Orochimaru. He was much quieter and reserved. I’m not sure how well he gets on with Jiraiya, but she mentions them both quite often whenever I see her at family functions. It’s an unusual name. I’m not sure how I didn’t realize it before.”

Tobirama, finished with his food, got up and walked to the sink to drop his dish inside. He would do the dishes when he got back.

“So, was this Orochimaru more promising than Izuna?” Madara inquired, his voice lightening up with humor.

The corner of Tobirama’s lip involuntarily as he tried to hold back a smile. “Let’s face it, Uchiha. Everyone is more promising than your brother at chemistry.”

“I heard that!” Tobirama turned toward the voice and saw that Izuna was standing outside of his room on the side of the apartment that he shared with Madara. His arms were crossed over his chest and the look on his face was genuinely offended. “I thought that you said that I was getting better!”

“You are,” Tobirama said as he walked toward his own room to grab his shirt and bag, “but there isn’t much you could do to get any worse than you already are, so it doesn’t really mean much.”

 

 

Madara split off from Tobirama once they had both entered the science building. The chemistry floor was at the very top. Probably because if those psychotic scientists wanted to do some sort of dangerous experiment and blow something up, then it would at least give other innocent people time to get out. He didn’t like science, and he was even less happy with it due to the hour that he had to get up just to attend the introductory biology for non-majors that he had to take for a general education requirement.

It was on the bottom floor in a large auditorium at the very back of the building. The class was very full, like most introductory courses were, and there wasn’t a soul in that class that looked as though they wanted to be there. He sat down in his usual seat and grabbed his book and pen out of his bag.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he saw that he had a text message from his brother.

**_Did you hear the news about Kaguya Otsutsuki?_ **

Madara swallowed, his mouth suddenly feeling dry by those words alone. Being reminded again didn’t do wonders for his concentration. He sent back a quick confirmation text before he turned his phone on silent and put it back in his pocket. The teacher was strict about cellphones being used in class, and he didn’t feel like being dismissed.

The only thing that he could think of as he waited for his lecture to begin was the words that he’d overheard his parents whispering a few nights after Kaguya had been convicted of murder and sent to prison for the rest of her life. “ _She said that she would kill all of us if she ever got out”._ His mother had sounded so scared, so terrified. Of course, his father had quickly calmed her down, sounding confident, and had assured her that there was no chance of her ever being able to do that.

Now that she was out after spending so much time in jail, Madara had to admit that there was a very good chance that she could still want to do it. He didn’t think that spending time, wasting away in a jailhouse with nothing else to do but to think on who had locked her a way had made her feel more forgiving toward Tajima Uchiha. If anything, her hatred had probably worsened. If she had the means to do it, on the other hand, was a totally different story. She had just escaped from jail and was still trying to hide from police. She wasn’t about to just waltz up to any of his family members and try and off them.

“You’re looking a bit distracted today.”

Madara looked up at that remark, torn from him unsettling thought process. His younger cousin, Kagami, was standing next to him, sitting his bag on the ground next to his chair. His dark eyes were staring down at Madara with something nearing concern. He pushed some of his shaggy, black hair off his forehead as he sat down and looked more closely at Madara.

“Is there something wrong?” Kagami questioned.

“No. Yes…maybe,” Madara sighed, running his own fingers through his own messy strands as he lowered his head slightly and put his face in his hands. “I was watching the news this morning before I came to class.”

Kagami was silent, but Madara simply kept his face in his hands. Kagami’s silence was answer enough. He had heard about the escape as well. “I’m sure that everything’s going to be fine,” he said eventually.

“I know,” Madara said. “I’m just uneasy for now. I’m sure that this will all pass in time.”

He heard his cousin yawn loudly from next to him. Madara looked over at him sharply and saw that Kagami looked very tired. He had dark bags underneath his eyes, and there was a tightness in his face as though he was doing everything that he could just to keep himself awake.

“Are you alright?” Madara inquired. He’d heard that there was a sickness going around, and, as much as he cared about the wellbeing of his cousin, he wasn’t interested in getting sick himself. “Tobirama mentioned that you weren’t at the tutoring center last night.”

“I’m fine,” Kagami assured him. “I’m just tired. I actually had a date last night.” He looked quite pleased with himself as he gave out that information. “I was out pretty late and didn’t get to bed until a lot later.”

“Don’t do that again,” Madara snapped sharply. Kagami’s eyes were widened visibly by his tone and Madara immediately felt bad. He had a soft spot for Kagami; the little idiot had a habit of being less of an idiot when Izuna started being an even larger idiot. He hated the thought of making him upset, but he really was serious about this. “Don’t leave this campus without at least a group of four people. You need three people with you at all times off campus, and I’d like you to have at least one other person with you when you’re on campus. Don’t go out at night either.”

Kagami actually laughed at him. “You know that your father isn’t the only cop in our family, right? My own parents have already called me and gave me very clear details on what I am and am not allowed to do. I’ve already been threatened into submission by them. I don’t need you to give me the rundown as well.”

Madara smiled at his cousin as their teacher entered the class from one of the side doors near the bottom of the auditorium. He opened his notebook and grabbed his pen as the PowerPoint started up. His cousin was going to be fine; they all were going to be just fine. They weren’t stupid, and they were going to act with a level of intelligence suitable for the situation until they could afford to be stupid again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to lie, I'm nervous about this one because I've been planning this story out for months, and I'm hoping that it comes out as good as I want it to. Feel free to tell me what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobirama has lunch with his brother and Madara meets Orochiamaru.

It took forever for his lunch break to roll around. Tobirama had been uninterested in all of his classes. The look on Madara’s face kept appearing in his head, concerning him greatly, and he didn’t know why he couldn’t just ignore it. He knew it had to be about Kaguya escaping from that prison He wanted to reassure Madara that everything would be alright, though he didn’t know exactly what was troubling him. It had been a long time since he’d seen Madara look scared, but he was fairly sure that what the expression on his face was.

He shook his head as he walked down the sidewalk, being sure to keep out of the way of the other people that were in a hurry to get to whatever destination that they had. He was in a bit of a hurry himself, but he wasn’t prepared to run anyone over to get to the university’s restaurant for his weekly lunch with Hashirama. He wanted to talk to his brother. Hashirama had a way of making all of Tobirama’s worries disappear. He didn’t know if it was a big brother thing, or if it was the way that Hashirama seemed to just float through life carelessly, as though there was nothing that anyone should be worried about. Either way, Tobirama needed that feeling of relaxation.

 He turned off the main walkway and got onto a smaller one and made it way to a small, cottage style building. There were a few other tired-looking students stumbling up the steps and into the building. Tobirama sighed as he followed them and got into the blissful air conditioning. It was a warm day, and the cool air soothed his skin.

Hashirama was already inside and was sitting at a table toward the far end of the restaurant with two bags on the tabletop. He could only see one half of his brother’s face, but even from the distance and the angle, he could see that Hashirama was in a great mood. He was positively glowing as he dug his hand into his bag and brought out a wrapped sandwich. Tobirama carefully moved over, stepping out of the way of the people trying to bulldoze their way into the line for food.

Hashirama turned toward him as he walked up, his teeth shining brightly as he smiled up at him. Tobirama sat down, already curious. He was in a good mood, even more of a good mood than normal. Tobirama grabbed his bag, trying to seem nonchalant, almost enjoying the way that Hashirama was obviously trying to get him to ask about it.

After a few moments, as he painstakingly slowly opened his package of food, letting Hashirama suffer for just a few more precious seconds. He finally looked up and saw that Hashirama was practically vibrating in his seat. Tobirama wondered if it was possible to actually explode from excitement.

“What’s got you so happy?” he eventually asked.

Without preamble, Hashirama nearly shouted, “I’m in love!”

“In love?” Tobirama inquired as he looked over his sandwich, making sure that it was exactly what he wanted. “Who are you in love with?”

That was all he needed to ask. Hashirama immediately went on a mushy rant, describing Mito, a fearsome, regal woman with long, fiery red hair, and beautiful brown eyes. She sounded like a total goddess from Hashirama’s tail, but he figured that it was just the way that Hashirama blinded himself to all the people that he was completely infatuated with and only focused on the good qualities that they had and amplified them in his mind, so that it was all that he could see.  

Tobirama had to admit that he was curious about her now, and he wanted to meet this one. It had been only two weeks, and Tobirama had to admit that it was a fast infatuation, even for Hashirama. She must really be something.

“Her hair is like the most beautiful fire!” Hashirama cried out, his eyes practically sparkling as he described it. “I swear that I could spend all day running my fingers through it!”

“You might want to slow down on that thought,” Tobirama suggested. “It’s kind of creepy, and if you’re that interested in this one, the last thing that you want to do is scare her away.”

Hashirama visibly paled at that, and his good mood seemed to immediately disappear. Darkness almost visibly loomed over him as his eyes began to shine. Tobirama felt his heart sinking as he realized that Hashirama was about to cry. “It was just a joke, brother,” Tobirama said quickly, trying to dissuade a tantrum from happening in the middle of a public building. “I’m sure that you’re not going to be able to scare her away. You’re very charming when you want to be.”

He immediately perked up all over again. “That’s the nicest thing that I’ve heard from you in a long time, Tobirama!” he cried. He looked as though he was about to jump over a table and tackle him in a hug.

Tobirama immediately rectified the situation by quickly changing the subject. “So, how did your tutoring session go with Izuna?”

Hashirama immediately perked up at this and forgot that he wanted to give Tobirama a hug. “It went very well. He has improved tremendously. I’m certain that he has a great chance of passing the test tomorrow. He now knows the places that protons, neutrons, and electrons are found in an atom.”

Tobirama was silent for a moment, letting that small bit of information sink in with faint amusement. If that was all that Izuna had learned, then it certainly wasn’t much. He supposed that if Hashirama was proud of him for learning that little bit, then that was all that matters…well, that and the failing grade that Izuna was bound to get on this exam. He felt at least obligated to warn Hashirama that all that work was going to still result in a blatant failure before Izuna wailed about it when they got back to the apartment.

 “You know that was only part of the exam, right?” Tobirama finally questioned. “There were still trends on the periodic table that he needed to know and the symbols of the atoms on the table. You guys got to those subjects too, right?” He was praying that Hashirama had just decided to leave out the rest of the things that they had worked on.

Hashirama was silent for a few moments, his eyes widening in obvious surprise, before he just shrugged and waved his hand, as though dismissing the thought all together. “We didn’t, but I’m sure that he’ll do just _fine._ He’s Madara’s brother, after all, so I’m sure that he has a level of intelligence equal to that of his brother’s.”

Tobirama wanted to tell Hashirama that some people were very smart in some subjects and completely stupid in others no matter what their intelligence level was. Science was not Izuna’s calling, and nothing was going to change that. He couldn’t bring himself to, knowing that it would wipe the smile off Hashirama’s face for a second time in one day. Instead, he turned to yet another topic change.

“Speaking of Madara,” Tobirama said, purposely not commenting at all on Hashirama’s optimistic statement, “did you hear the news about Kaguya Otsutsuki?”

“Yeah,” Hashirama said. He didn’t look troubled in the least by the subject. Madara and Hashirama shared everything with each other like a couple of girls, so Hashirama, of all people, should have known what had made Madara so somber. If it was really that serious of a reason, he was certain that Hashirama would have looked the same way too. “The police had a hard-enough time finding her the first time. I can’t imagine that she’s going to be any easier to dig out this time. I hope that they catch her quickly, though. I hate the thought of another killing spree.”

Maybe that was what had Madara so upset. He was a political science major and wanted to become an attorney that prosecuted cases like hers to put criminals away in jail and off the streets before they could harm innocent people. He had a very strong sense of justice, and it was probably the thought of innocent people being harmed by her again that was making him so unhappy.

Hashirama looked down at his phone and that dopey grin that he had on his face was back. It looked as though he had scored Mito’s number. Tobirama rolled his eyes at his brother’s antics and looked down at his own phone. With a small sigh, he saw that it was time to go and get back to class.

He pushed his chair back with his legs and got to his feet. He leaned down and grabbed his bag and looked over at Hashirama to see that he was doing the same thing. He grabbed his trash and he and his older brother walked toward the door, discarding their used contents into the trash can before walking outside.

Tobirama grimaced as the hot air hit his skin. Hashirama seemed completely unaffected by the heat in the air as he smiled down at his phone. Shaking his head, he moved out of the walkway and looked over to see Madara and Izuna walking toward them. Both men looked unhappy, though Tobirama figured that it was for different reasons.

He now knew, without a single doubt in his head, that Izuna had failed the chemistry test spectacularly. The look on his face was of defeat, and Tobirama wondered if Izuna was already considering dropping the class. He and Hashirama both walked down the stairs to greet them. Hashirama smiled warmly at them and placed a hand on Izuna’s shoulder. Thankfully, he had enough tact to not ask about the test.

No one spoke for a few moments, but Madara finally broke the silence. “You’re too damn happy, Hashirama. Turn it down a few notches so you don’t look like so much of a freak.”

Hashirama immediately wilted, his lower lip jutting out at an extreme angle. Tobirama knew that his brother was only heartbeats away from wailing at his best friend, and they didn’t have time for that. He quickly reached over and smacked Hashirama over the back of the head and leveled an angry glare at Madara.

“If you two want to fight over something this stupid, wait until later,” he snapped. “We have a class to get to.” Before either of them could say anything, Tobirama walked off, leaving the group behind. A few moments later, he heard quick footsteps approaching him and saw Madara walking next to him on his left side.

The liberal arts side of the campus was near the restaurant, so they didn’t have much of a walk to make. Tobirama allowed himself to slow down to a more sedate pace, since they had more than ten minutes to spare before they were expected to be present. Madara was silent next to him, but Tobirama felt the weight of his discontentment well enough without the words. The silence seemed to make it worse, actually.

He uncomfortably turned his head and looked over at Madara. The older man had his head held high as he walked, and his expression seemed normal enough, but Tobirama could see the strain on his face, as though he was having to physically force his face to stay void of all emotion. It only took a couple of moments of seeing that look for Tobirama to cave.

“You know that there’s nothing for you to worry about, right?” Tobirama asked him quietly. “They’re going to catch her soon, but you have no control over it. There’s no sense in you being upset over something that you can’t control. Just relax before your hair turns gray prematurely.”

Madara actually stumbled over his feet and his eyes widened in apparent shock before he caught himself and his face smoothened over once again, and his pace evened out. A moment later, a small smile appeared on his face. It was a genuine grin, one that Tobirama didn’t see very often. It was a nice look for him and made him look even more handsome as his usually stern features softened.

“That’s rich coming from you, of all people, Senju,” he said, though there was no heat in his tone. “Your hair is already stark white. What did you do to stress yourself out so much?”

“I was born like this,” Tobirama replied. “It’s like a higher power already knew that I was going to be putting up with idiots like you all the time, and they were trying to spare me the shame of my hair turning gray and white prematurely because of it.”

Madara snorted and opened his mouth to reply, but he immediately went quiet when Tobirama heard his own name being called out from somewhere behind him. He turned around and searched. At first, he didn’t see anyone he recognized, but Orochimaru came into sight from behind a small patch of trees a moment later.

He was smiling shyly as he quickly walked up to them. His eyes were lowered to the ground at first, but he looked up as he reached him and Madara. His smile got larger as he said, “I passed my test with an A. I thought that you would like to know that it was because of you. When I saw you walking, I just had to thank you for helping me.”

“It was no problem at all,” Tobirama assured him softly, reaching out and placing a hand on Orochimaru’s shoulder. “You’re very intelligent and grasped concepts very quickly. I’m sure that you’ll have no problem in this class. Are you a chemistry major? You show great promise for it.”

“I am,” Orochimaru confirmed, “but I’m nowhere near as promising as you are. You’re really intelligent. I’ve never met anyone that could explain concepts quite as well as you can. You make learning seem effortless. It makes me happy to know that there are people out there that are smart and really attractive at the same time.”

The younger man’s face flushed at his admission, and Tobirama’s own face felt warm from the compliment as well. Much to Tobirama’s surprise, Orochimaru didn’t take back his words, or even try to stumble over an explanation.

After the moment of surprise passed, Tobirama quietly said, “Thank you for the compliment,” bowing slightly before straightening back up.

Before anything else could be said between the two, Madara cut in, sounding a bit grumpy, much like his normal self. “We have to get to class, Senju. There’s less than five minutes before it starts. You two will have to catch up later.”

Without so much as acknowledging Orochimaru, Madara walked off toward the fine arts building by himself. Tobirama said a quick farewell to Orochimaru before he walked away briskly, trying to catch back up to Madara. The older man didn’t slow down or look back at him. Tobirama finally caught back up to him as he reached the doorway to the building, thankful that his legs were a couple of inches longer than Madara’s.

“Who’s that freak?” Madara asked without preamble as they made it into the air conditioning. His voice sounded disapproving and unhappy as he spoke, coupled with the words that he said, Madara was being downright hostile toward a complete stranger. That was odd behavior for the eldest Uchiha brother. Tobirama knew that he wasn’t exactly a people person and had a very low tolerance for bullshit of any kind, but he usually gave people a chance before he was rude to them.

“There’s no reason for you to be so rude,” Tobirama admonished Madara with a frown. “That was Orochimaru, and he has done nothing to you.”

“I don’t like him,” Madara said as they reached the art classroom that they had both signed up for. As they walked in and took their usual seats at the back, he elaborated. “There’s something off about him.”

“He’s just eccentric,” Tobirama waved his concerns off. “Every college campus has them, and they’re harmless. That’s not a reason for you to dislike him.”

“I know that most eccentrics are harmless,” Madara replied, his face still set into a deep scowl. “I don’t know about this one, though. I don’t like him, he gives me a bad feeling.”

“Why is that?” Tobirama questioned. “You have to have some reason for having bad vibes. What did he do when we were talking? That’s the first time you’ve seen him, right?”

Madara crossed his arms over his chest and pointedly looked away from Tobirama. At first Tobirama figured that Madara was done with the conversation and wasn’t going to answer him at all. That wasn’t the case, however. He spoke up with a wavering voice that sounded just a little bit uneasy, but Tobirama could hear the anger in it.

“I don’t like the way that he looked at you,” he said quietly. “It wasn’t normal, and I think that you should stay away from him. The last thing that you want to do is catch the attention of a psychopath on campus.”

“He’s Tsunade’s friend,” Tobirama said. “I highly doubt that she would befriend anyone that was sketchy. I think that you’re being paranoid for no reason.”

Madara still wouldn’t look over at him, but he did reply. “It’s your choice, Senju. Do what you want, I’m hardly going to stop you.”

Tobirama had to fight back an affectionate smile from creeping on his face. Madara wasn’t good at showing that he cared, but the way that he acted concerned over things like this really did show better than any small gestures that most people do. It was nice to see, even if the concern was misplaced. Tobirama was in a good mood, even with Madara still refusing to look at him, for the rest of the class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is actually the second part of the first chapter. It was extremely long, and I wanted this story to have shorter chapters. I hope that you liked it regardless. Feel free to share your thoughts.


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